Screaming In Silence Poem by Gabriel Mapati

She can't seem to move her arms, legs or any muscle at all.
Her eyes blink in the bright light though she can't see anything.
Her arms feel tied up, her whole body does.

She can feel the chains all over her body.
Surely, she must be struggling to free herself, but no.
She just sits there.
With the glare in front of her, she does nothing to evade its punishing flair.

Although the chains dig into her, eating right through her,
she doesn't seem to mind much.
I wonder why.
But as I keep looking I notice something.

Her face is quiet yet its screams fill the musty air.
Her eyes blank, yet I can't seem to finish the texts it opens up for me to read.
Going through them, I study them.

I realize she is locked in her life.
I see her misery, I feel it as it goes down my spine in a million chills.
She has been in this life for far too long she has gotten used to it.
But, she still screams.

She is scared out of her mind.
She continues to go through the sexual abuse in silence.
She has gotten so used to it that she does nothing to evade it.
She just stares at it head on.
Head on without flinching from its punishing pain.

Binded by the chains of orphan-hood, she can't move.
She just suffers in silently loud torment.
If only I could ask her.
Ask her why she is screaming so silently,
maybe, just maybe, she may explode in her loudest scream.
But that seemed like a dream.

If only the chains binding her weren't so painfull.
If only they weren't getting any deeper.
But, that is just how A.I.D.S operates, it never stops digging.
Pushing away all hope to her endless psycho-physical torment.

Only a mother's heart can bleed like mine is.
Seeing my daughter in such torment stabs my heart.
It stabs from beyond the grave.
If only she could hear my voice,
maybe she would be re-assured i'm looking above her.

As I watch from above in silent screams of my own,
the door bangs thunderously.
A woman in the finest clothing walks in.
Behind her is a beast.
It eyes my poor daughter as it approaches.
Its eyes open wide in the glare of the room.
With a whisper to its ear my sister walks out of the room,
My own sister betraying my trust.
The beast approaches entangling itself from its hide.
One of my sister's clients ofcourse.

The beast approaches her.
A beast in a man's body coming for her,
coming for my poor daughter.
Motionless she just sits there.
She doesnt seem to care about the beast nearing her.

Suddenly, her screams burst my ear drums.
The beast does not seem to react to her screams.
But then, from the look on her face I realize why.
She screams, only she screams in silence.